Size Matters

If, while in bed, I can see it clearly in the dark...if the dim light of the alarm clock can cast that much of a shadow behind it...If I can see it scrambling behind a pile of books (in the darkl!)....

Then it's WAY too big a spider!

Eeeeew!

Merino: The Gateway Fibre

Yesterday, a good friend of mine got married. I'm very happy for him - they're a great match, and in the 12 years I've known him, I've never seen him look as happy in his own skin as he has since they met. The wedding was small and sweet and very laid back, especially for being in such a posh location. We shared a table with 3 other couples, 2 of whom we knew, and we really enjoyed our conversation over the hundred or so lunch courses (and liberal pourings of wine...oops!) One of the wedding favours they gave out were these sweet little tins with M&M candies, printed with their names:


"Great stash boxes!" opined one of the table mates whom we knew. It later came out that the fourth gentleman at our table is an RCMP officer. Gulp. Well, we all know that we could only mean to use these little tins for stashing stitch markers. Or beads, yeah, that's it! Which was entirely plausible, since one of the women at the table is also a knitter, and we had a fine discussion of the merits of merino vs. bamboo; top-down vs. toe-up socks; etc.

After a very fine afternoon, we said our goodbyes and headed east, our old, decrepit, dented grey van belching its way through the Mercedes and Jags in the neighbourhood. Heheheheheh. Having had several glasses of wine (and finishing Mr.Q's champagne, purely selflessly as he was driving. Mmm hmmm.) I thought it would be a good idea to go to the yarn store. Because nothing is as fun as drunken yarn shopping! (Unless it's drunken yarn shopping with a gal pal, and a pool boy to carry our bags and massage our tired feet after the ordeal. Oh yeah, and to pay for it...)

(oops - was that my outside voice? Mr.Q, avert your ears!)

The yarn store drive-by was indeed successful, and probably a lot safer than trying to actually knit in that condition. There was a giant moose wearing knitted stockings in the window, which was briefly disorienting. Until the owner mentioned that it was there on purpose. (I didn't think I'd had that much wine!) At any rate, I found exactly what I was looking for:


I have no idea what the red stuff is. Merino something, I think. I'm not sure. I left the ball band on the counter. Ooops again! However, I'm very excited about it, since it's the perfect colour for these. And the orangey-bluey stuff from Indigo Moon (Which knits up beautifully, a friend of mine started her first pair of socks with the stuff!) will be a pair of Horcrux socks. (Yes, I've got a Harry Potter theme going on...and your point is? But you have to admit, they're cool patterns.)

Meanwhile, I haven't posted kittie pics in awhile. Brigid helps herself to my glass of water:


When that method proved less-than-successful, she got creative:




No, I didn't finish drinking the glass when she was done. I'm not that weird!

Starting the weekend right...

Is there any better way to spend Friday night than a spontaneous date with cheese, crackers, fruit and wine? Actually, there is: add gal-pal bonding and yarn.


I was going to say that the only thing that would have made it better would have been a pool-boy in a loin cloth, feeding me peeled grapes and massaging my feet. But Jel let me play with her new drop spindle and mangle some blue fuzzy stuff. WAY more fun than the pool boy!

(Unless he does windows, too?)

Not being a night-owl, I'm usually home and asleep by 10:00 most nights. And I was tired yesterday, having been out a little late the night before, farewell-ing a couple of colleagues who are moving on. (There was good micro-brew. And mai tais. It was a bit of a scene. Ahem.)

So I was quite surprised to find myself, after helping drain a bottle of very nice wine, wandering in the door at 12:30 last night! And I had to get up early this morning to drive Mr.Q to a first aid class for work. I'm going back to bed now, hopefully I can catch a short nap before Sis comes to pick me up. We're going shopping, and I want to be as perky as possible. I will not be able to take complete leave of my senses on the adventure, since I may have to take the SkyTrain home from Surrey, so don't want to be hauling an unreasonable load back with me.

Thankfully, yarn doesn't weigh that much, and it's pretty compact.

(The drop spindle was fun. A lot of fun. I need one.)

Revelry and Ravelry

Just checked my status on the Ravelry invite list...I've moved up about 2000 places, only 2883 people in front of me...it's all downhill from here now, isn't it. (That's not a question. It's a statement of simple fact. And I'm not complaining!)

Half-way to Sixteen

Happy Birthday to my favourite nephew! (OK, he's my only nephew...but out of all the nephews in all the world, he's my favourite one!)

Martha Stewart I'm not

I think it's time to go grocery shopping. Past time, in fact. I came to this brilliant realization a few minutes ago, when I went hunting for breakfast. My choices were: dry cereal (no milk); blackberry jelly; a potato; a can of tuna; a pouch of leftover instant oatmeal from our trip. Given some time, and perhaps an Iron Chef competition, perhaps something brilliant could be whipped up that could be served to the Queen. But at 7:30 A.M., pre-coffee....well, I opted for the oatmeal. I can't wait till we're rich, and somebody else will take care of all these little details for me.

(HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Now I have to go excavate clean socks from Mount Laundry. At least I have coffee now.

The most fun you can have with your clothes on...

...is cleaning boiled-over blackberry jelly from the innards of a gas stove.

Not.